Healer Q&A in PLL LXVIII

[Punslinger]

Many healers don't want to be damage dealers.

Yes, Sylphie from the CNJ quests provides a notable example of the archetype.

One would also have to wonder about the popularity of Atonement in WoW going from an optional talent to a fundamental part of Disc Priest gameplay, if "many healers don't want to be damage dealers."

I hate DoTs, upkeep buffs, DPS "press on CD" buffs/buttons, and complex rotations that I adhere to like a metronome.

Why are you playing an MMO, then? That's like saying, "I hate memorizing combos and playing DDR with the D-pad in order to perform special moves," while playing fighting games.

I find GNB enjoyable WHILE TANKING. I just get no personal satisfaction from "big damage". Zero. None. Not everyone in life is about big damage, and it boggles my mind how so MANY very OPINIONATED people seem not to get this.

You get no satisfaction from "big damage," yet you tank as GNB, the tank with the most DPS buttons in the role? (press X to doubt)

This is not about "OMG BIG DEEPS NUMBARZ GUD." This is about 2111111111 being boring as hell. This is about fight design giving healers almost nothing to do but spam 21111111111. This is about the MSQ giving healers nothing to do but spam 2111111111. This is about your "solution" being to replace 211111111 DPS spam with 211111111 heal spam. How is it that you Sylphie curebots seem not to get this?

We advocate for Green DPS because that is the only feasible way to save the role at this point! The time to take fights off of rigid scripts and switch to attrition-based healing was three expansions ago. That ship hasn't just sailed, it's struck an iceberg, and then been torpedoed just to be sure.

Square will not radically change how they design fights going forward, breaking with almost a decade of tradition. Square will not radically overhaul that same decade's worth of existing content to make it work with a new healing model. Square will not radically redesign every healer's healing kit from the ground up, or make MP management a key part of gameplay, such that HPM becomes relevant, in order to make GCD-centric healing interesting the way it is in other MMOs. Square will not do anything that raises the skill floor of the role, because Yoshida seems to believe that healers have IQs smaller than their shoe sizes.

So given those realities, the only way to make the healing role more engaging is to give it a DPS rotation that cannot be performed by a drinky-bird perched over your keyboard's 1 key. This makes healing more fun for skilled players, Sylphie can keep ignoring her job's DPS kit entirely, it fits with existing content design philosophy, it fits with existing job design philosophy, and it requires minimal effort from a dev team that plainly is not interested in spending anything more than minimal effort on the healing role.